There is a wonderful Bible teacher who is a preacher at a very large church. He has been pastor there for many years. I have always loved listening to him. I am not going to mention his name because I am going to disagree with him on a very critical point of his teaching.
I wanted to see how he taught Ephesians 5:24, "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." His explanation to this was that it did not mean obey your husband. It meant to have a gentle and quiet spirit. It meant the husband is suppose to be the provider and protector. He is to sacrifice for his wife as Christ sacrificed for the church.
This is all biblical but I don't believe this is what submission means. He clearly was opposed to using the word "obey" in defining submission. I went to the dictionary and it defined submission as "the state of being obedient: the act of accepting the authority or control of someone else." So the dictionary understands the definition of submission but not Bible teachers?
I didn't see that submission meant being gentle, quiet, or expecting the husband to provide, protect and sacrifice in the dictionary. Yes, husbands should do all that but what if they don't. Does that mean the wife doesn't have to be submissive? The problem with this teaching is that wives will decide their husbands aren't loving them as Christ loved the church, therefore, they do not need to submit to their husband. They will continually look to their husband and see how short he is falling in his God-ordained role and be upset with him.
Being submissive is obeying. Period. We submit to our government by obeying it. We submit to our employers by obeying them. We submit to Christ by obeying Him. Older women are told to teach younger women to be "obedient to their own husbands" {Titus 2:5}. Does this mean husbands can physically abuse their wives? Of course not!
I don't understand why pastors are so afraid to teach what true submission looks like or even mention the word "obey" as if it is a dirty word. Has your pastor ever taught that wives are to obey their husbands, not just submit but obey? Even so, I, as an older woman, will continue to teach women to be submissive, yes, even obey their husband in everything.
